Over 30 Conservation Organizations Join Brown in Push for Passage of Multinational Species Conservation Funds

WASHINGTON D.C.- Congressman Henry E. Brown Jr. (R-SC) received the support of The Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation and more than 30 other organizations representing millions of American hunter conservationists when they sent a letter yesterday to the Chairman and Ranking Member of the House Natural Resources Committee, urging them to support H.R. 1454, the Multinational Species Conservation Funds Semipostal Stamp Act, legislation introduced by Congressman Brown and previously championed by Jack Hanna, the Director Emeritus of the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium.

Listing 105 co-sponsors, H.R. 1454 will serve as a supplemental funding source for the five current Multinational Species Conservation Funds, directly benefiting some of the most cost effective conservation programs administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

“Allowing the U.S. Postal Service to design and sell a semi-postal stamp would prove a convenient way for the public to contribute to funding for the projects supported by the Multinational Species Conservation Funds,” said Congressman Brown.

The funds realized from the sale of the stamp would not offset appropriations that already exist for the conservation funds. Instead, they would help supplement these important conservation programs at no-cost to U.S. taxpayers.

“This bill has the potential to raise a significant amount of money for international wildlife conservation by creating an additional funding source, thereby preserving and strengthening these valuable USFWS programs,” said CSF President Jeff Crane.

In committee markup Wednesday morning, the committee favorably reported H.R. 1454 to the full House of Representatives.

Read more on Hanna’s visit to Congressman Brown office and his support for H.R. 1454.
Read more on Brown and his First District constituent’s efforts to Stamp Out Extinction.

This OK, but hardly the sort of thing which is going to make a real difference. With climate change pushing us toward a mass extinction of species around the planet due to decreasing precipitation and desertification, selling a few stamps wont hurt or help much.

I write and call the congressman regularly, but that doesn’t help much either.